They didn't seem like guys who were mad at the world. Living what seemed to be ordinary lives, they worked as cab drivers or roofing contractors. One had a job delivering pizza to a nearby military base. On East Tampa Avenue in Cherry Hill, Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer made his home in a split-level that neighbors said was once owned by... Full story »

The decision five years ago to curb spending on the FamilyCare health insurance program by denying enrollment to parents actually cost the state more money than it saved, according to an analysis released today by a Trenton think tank. Full story »

State lawmakers will be receiving a flurry of "Un-Happy Anniversary'' cards during the next month from anti-poverty advocates reminding them it's been 20 years since the state raised the value of the monthly welfare grant. That means that while gas has risen from 95 cents to $3 a gallon from 1987 to 2007, stamps have climbed from 22 cents to... Full story »

For the third time in four years, hundreds of people flocked to the Statehouse today demanding state lawmakers raise payments to community nonprofit groups by 4.1 percent in the coming year, so they can continue providing care for disabled people and abused children. Gov. Jon Corzine's budget contains a 2 percent increase for the agencies' contracts, and the increase would... Full story »

New Jersey has assembled a health command center in Trenton that can help key officials gather information and manage a crisis should a wildfire, flood or terrorist attack threaten the state, officials said today. The cornerstone of the command center is a state-created $2 million software program named Hippocrates, after the Greek physician regarded as the father of medicine.... Full story »

With so many hospitals in New Jersey fighting for their economic survival, state government needs to be more careful about which facilities they choose to support, according to a report issued this morning by a medical advisory commission. The much-anticipated report does not identify which of New Jersey's acute care hospitals ought to close. But it gives Gov. Jon Corzine... Full story »

Gov. Jon Corzine today urged the international shipping company United Parcel Service to recognize the state's civil union law and provide health benefits to employees' partners, or risk perpetuating the discrimination of same-sex couples and their families. The letter comes after the Star-Ledger reported UPS had recently denied a Toms River employee's partner health coverage because state law does not... Full story »

Teenagers and parents at risk of mistreating their children will have more opportunities for drug treatment under a $1.2 million plan state officials said today. Six nonprofit agencies that successfully bid for the contracts will collectively add 70 outpatient "slots'' in their existing drug treatment centers, operating from Camden, Essex, Gloucester, Morris and Ocean counties, according to a joint statement... Full story »

A state survey released today revealed fewer New Jersey middle school and high school students say they smoked cigarettes last year, continuing a trend from 2001, Health and Senior Services Commissioner Fred Jacobs announced. According to the 2006 New Jersey Youth Tobacco Survey, smoking rates among middle schoolers have dropped from a high in 1999 of 10.5 percent to 3.2... Full story »

Thousands of middle-income children enrolled in New Jersey's FamilyCare health insurance program will not be forced out when the federal government begins enforcing new rules limiting eligibility next year, a top Medicaid official said today. But the federal government will expect New Jersey and other states to enroll only the poorest children who apply next summer, the federal official said,... Full story »

State officials will cease monitoring a south Jersey facility for developmentally disabled children because it has rectified long-standing problems with supervision, training and medical care, according to a report released today by the The Office of the Child Advocate. Bancroft NeuroHealth Inc., based in Haddonfield, Camden County, has developed a system to ensure there are enough workers to supervise children,... Full story »

The state is investigating the accidental fatal choking Tuesday of a 22-year disabled man who was in the care of a South Jersey facility. The man, whom authorities declined to identify, was a passenger in a van driven by a worker from Bancroft NeuroHealth, a Haddonfield center serving people with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries. Full story »

Although the state's effort to improve its child welfare agency was "focused and productive" in the first half of 2007, the "system does not consistently function well and the urgency of the reform remains," according to the latest federal monitor's report released today. The monitor's 71-page report praised the Department of Children and Families for meeting or making significant progress... Full story »